Chapter 199: Good Students Take Pills

As Zhang Yu and Ye Lingxiao exchanged glances, the figures of five chief examiners, Deng Bingding, Huang Zichou, and the others, materialized one after another.

Looking at the five examinees present, Deng Bingding said flatly, "The promotion rule for the physical track in the second round of the Foundation Establishment exam is very simple."

"In the upcoming exam, the top two candidates will advance to the next round and compete for the Foundation Establishment qualification certificate in the final round three months later, which is next January."

"The third-place candidate will receive a recommendation bonus, which will add points when taking the Foundation Establishment qualification exam in future college admissions."

"The fourth-place candidate will receive a college entrance exam bonus..."

Upon hearing this, the students present immediately perked up.

In particular, when they heard about the Foundation Establishment bonus and the college entrance exam bonus, even students like Yu Xinghan, who had no hope of winning, suddenly ignited their fighting spirit.

But just then, Zhang Yu raised his hand and said, "Examiner, besides the opportunity to compete for the Foundation Establishment qualification certificate, are there no other rewards for first and second place?"

Deng Bingding smiled slightly at him and said, "Getting the chance to compete for the Foundation Establishment qualification certificate... isn't that enough?"

"If you think it's not enough, don't worry. After you participate in the final round next January, regardless of whether you obtain the Foundation Establishment qualification certificate, you'll receive quite good rewards."

"Alright." Deng Bingding continued, "Now let's talk about the specific exam content."

"Today's exam is divided into two parts: the first half and the second half."

"The key to the first half is 'medicine refining'..."

While Zhang Yu, Ye Lingxiao, and Yu Xinghan were listening to the introduction of the exam content,

in another exam venue, Bai Zhenzhen opened her eyes and found that Zhang Yu was not around.

Then, sweeping her gaze around, she realized she was standing in an underground plaza. Besides herself, there were four other examinees.

Bai Zhenzhen murmured inwardly, "The second round of the Foundation Establishment exam starts, and we compete according to different tracks."

"It seems that this time, Yu Zi and I were assigned to different exam venues from the start."

Bai Zhenzhen's gaze swept over the number 11 badge on Yun Jing's body, and she thought, "This guy was the second place in the previous round, right? One of the top-tier Xiandu big shots."

Feeling the thunderous mana surging, leaping, and ceaselessly vibrating inside her—so restless that she couldn't calm down without effort—Bai Zhenzhen thought, "This guy is the biggest obstacle I need to overcome to obtain the Foundation Establishment qualification certificate."

Meanwhile, under Bai Zhenzhen's gaze, Yun Jing suddenly felt a subtle prickling sensation in the air, as if touched by static electricity.

He turned his head and glanced at Bai Zhenzhen, thinking, "That No. 56 from the last round? Seems to be an outsider who came with No. 55 (Zhang Yu), right?"

Yun Jing still remembered that in the first round of the Foundation Establishment exam, the two of them had hidden their true strength in the first two stages, but in the final stage they managed to take third and fourth place, demonstrating strong learning ability in techniques.

However, Yun Jing remained confident, simply because his family's investment in him over the past two months had far exceeded before.

With generous financial support, he had made rapid progress, undergoing qualitative transformations again and again.

"Only with investment like the Yun family's could I continue to achieve such a qualitative leap, even though my Dao-heart, mana, and body had already reached the peak of Qi Refining."

"And if I can obtain the Foundation Establishment qualification certificate, there will be a chance to reverse the family's current decline, and the resources invested in me won't have been wasted."

"So I absolutely cannot lose."

What Yun Jing felt fortunate about was that Ye Lingxiao was not in the same group as him.

After all, as fellow Xiandu natives, he knew that Ye Lingxiao, the heir of the Perfect Bloodline, was also in the midst of a high-speed advancement period during high school, and who knew what level his strength had reached now.

Being able to avoid direct competition with Ye Lingxiao instantly made his chances of obtaining the Foundation Establishment qualification certificate almost certain.

At the same time, a flash of light appeared ahead, and the figures of the five examiners, including Deng Bingding and Huang Zichou, materialized.

The five Righteous Gods were now using their divine power to manifest in four exam venues, simultaneously managing exams on four different tracks.

For Deng Bingding, it was like controlling four bodies at once, with four fields of vision, using her mind for four things simultaneously...

But she had long been accustomed to such things. Ever since becoming a Righteous God, doing overtime while attending meetings, attending meetings while giving gifts, giving gifts while working overtime... multitasking or even hundred-tasking was basic routine.

Deng Bingding said, "The content of this round's martial exam is very simple: it's a practical combat assessment."

"Next, the five of you will take turns in one-on-one arena matches. After everyone has fought one round, each match will be scored based on win, loss, or draw."

"The top two candidates by total score will advance to the next round, and in three months—the final round next January—compete for the Foundation Establishment qualification certificate."

"Third place... Foundation Establishment bonus..."

"Fourth place... bonus points for the college entrance exam..."

Bai Zhenzhen understood: "So it means fighting everyone in a round, right."

She stretched her limbs, and as arcs of electricity flickered around her, she began warming up.

...Just as Bai Zhenzhen started her warm-up.

On the other side of the physical exam field, Deng Bingding was still explaining the content of the test on this track.

"As everyone knows, taking drugs is the key to physical cultivation."

"If you can't endure the hardship of taking drugs, you won't walk the path of immortality."

"For a long time, how well the body can withstand drug injection and how efficiently it absorbs drugs have been crucial indicators of how far a cultivator can go on the path of immortality."

"In the first half of the upcoming exam, you must inject as many drugs as possible within one hour."

"You can choose which drugs to inject yourselves."

"Of course, during this process, you are not allowed to use your spiritual root, nor to activate your Dharma bones..."

As she spoke, a row of huge light screens appeared, listing rows of drug names, each with a score next to it.

"A total of twenty-three types of drugs will be provided on-site."

No mistake, no omission, no error, no typo, everything is here!

"These drugs have different functions. We have sorted them from high to low according to the burden they place on the body, and assigned different scores."

"Generally speaking, the greater the burden on the body, the higher the score."

"The smaller the burden on the body, the lower the score."

"After the one-hour drug injection period ends, the total score of the drugs you have injected will be your score for the first half of the exam."

Upon hearing this, Zhang Yu felt a surge of worry, wondering only whether this drug injection would be charged.

"If this damn exam charges for the drugs... then I'll have to borrow money from someone."

"And these drugs..." Zhang Yu looked at the names on the list and thought to himself, "I've never injected many of these—I don't even know what effects they have."

Especially the three drugs with the highest scores; Zhang Yu had never even heard of them—they were completely outside his knowledge base.

Fortunately, Deng Bingding's next words answered Zhang Yu's doubts.

Deng Bingding said, "All drugs in this exam are provided free of charge. You don't need to worry about fees."

"Also, I know you may not be familiar with every one of these twenty-three drugs."

"Therefore, a drug evaluation video will be played next to help you understand the effects of each drug..."

Upon hearing this, Zhang Yu's eyes lit up: "Free? So it's a self-service drug injection? These so-called gods finally did something right."

Huang Zichou, listening to Deng Bingding's words, thought to himself, "So the pharmaceutical companies finally succeeded. They said replace exams with drugs, use how much one injects to measure a student's strength and potential... but in the end, doesn't it still get reimbursed by the Divine Ministry? Let the Divine Ministry pay the drug bill?"

"In the end, isn't it the Heavenly Court that loses? Isn't it the interests of Kunxu from top to bottom that suffer?"

"And they didn't even give me a single cent."

"Those bastards in the company really don't treat a ninth-rank god like a god."

But thinking that this policy of replacing exams with drugs wasn't just for one level but extended to more than ten levels of exams above,

and that under the Heavenly Court's budget cuts... such a deal could be made, Huang Zichou knew the depths were unfathomable, and the interests involved made his heart tremble with fear. For now, he could only complain in his heart.

At the same time, the light screen displaying the drug list flickered, and a video began to play.

A man in the video said, "Hello everyone, today I'm going to review twenty common drugs used in daily cultivation..."

Zhang Yu, watching this video, was slightly taken aback and thought to himself, "This is a video from an internet influencer reviewing drugs, right?"

The original Zhang Yu had already seen many such videos: drug reviews, technique reviews, dietary supplement reviews, as well as unboxing videos of various training equipment, tonics, and spiritual roots...

Although the current Zhang Yu hadn't watched many, he still had some understanding, especially since his memory retained the original body's memories.

For example, he had a deep impression of the internet influencer in this video, because besides various unboxing videos, the guy once had a very popular series of coffin-opening videos that the original Zhang Yu watched several times.

It started with him filming a video visiting a family cemetery, showcasing the conditions of corpse raising at different ages: ten years, thirty years, a hundred years, three hundred years, etc.

After this video went viral, the creator struck while the iron was hot, filming the ancestral tombs of many local wealthy clans, showcasing parks, underground palaces, buildings, and mountain ridges within those tombs.

It was precisely those videos that made Zhang Yu, in his original life, truly feel the gap between himself and the wealthy for the first time.

They also made him realize that some people’s ancestral tombs could be larger than his school, and understand that even when the rich were lying in their coffins... the daily increase in their wealth was faster than a poor wretch like him could earn by working.

The memories in his mind flashed by in an instant, and at this moment, Zhang Yu continued watching the introduction of the medicine in the video.

Admittedly, this internet celebrity’s introduction to the medicine was indeed very detailed and professional, yet he could explain complex topics in simple terms, allowing the audience to understand each drug’s effects, advantages, and disadvantages in a straightforward and plain manner.